Patient Lounge Planet
by Wolfie-Dragon
Summary: Short one-shot for the indie game Rakuen by Laura Shigihara. After the Boy meets Morizora and gets his wish, Danielle reflects on the world he left behind in the hospital.


Danielle took another marble from the jar and laughed at the ooohs she got from her audience of eight-year olds. Barely younger than Sue had been. And the boy…

No, she couldn't think about that. If she thought about everyone she had seen passing through the hospital she'd go mad. Normally it was fairly easy. The faces blurred together, especially the old ones, the people who had had children, travelled the world, made great art, _lived their lives_.

The little ones were harder. They had a way of squirming into her headspace and anchoring themselves with cute remarks and insight that was too wise for children who were still in elementary school.

Sometimes all Danielle could do was pass on that wisdom and creativity.

"This is the amber tree world! Look, you can see the tree in the center, keeping watch over the entire planet," she said, holding the orange marble out to the wide-eyed kids. "There's a, uhm… a tea shop in the center of the tree! And as this world rolls and spins, so does the tea shop! But don't worry, you all get to spin with it, so the tea doesn't get lost! It's like a rollercoaster, you stay in your seat even when it doesn't feel that way!"

Danielle wished she could remember more clearly how Sue had described the worlds. She should have written it down, make an atlas to the galaxy of planets inside the jar.

But it hadn't felt urgent. Sue had always seemed so vibrant, so alive, that Danielle had never even considered that tomorrow she could be gone.

The children didn't seem to notice her frown, too busy shaking the marble and gasping when the shape inside seemed to turn upside down.

A meow made her look up to the other side of the room, where Oogy the cat was cuddling up to Henry and Astrid. They were teenagers who met in the hospital ward, and although they denied it vehemently, saying they cuddled close because Henry was so thin he could barely produce enough body heat for himself, Danielle could see more than just friendship was blossoming between them. It made her happy to see love grow in a place with so much gloom and death.

Puchi walked up to the couple, maneuvering carefully through the chessboard in front of them and putting her head on Henry's lap. Surprised by the sudden move, the boy flinched, but quickly embraced the warm dog. The animals behaved incredibly well. Danielle wasn't sure where Boy had found them, but they didn't attack each other… much. Oogy and Puchi sometimes wrestled, but they hadn't attacked the bird or the fish yet.

"Danielle? What is this marble?" one of the kids pulled her out of her thoughts. He held up a bright yellow marble, one that Sue had never told her about.

"Uhm, let's see. This is desert world! It has sand everywhere, but there are a lot of oases as well, so you never get too thirsty! Look, here you can see the little green spots where plants grow!" she said, pointing out old patches of dirt and grass on the marble, probably remnants of when the marble had been used outside.

That must have been a long time ago. The jar hadn't seen sunlight in a long time. After Sue died, the jar had gone to Boy. Winston told her about how Sue had asked him to take care of her worlds.

In retrospect, it had probably been too much for him. It was so easy to forget the pressure he was under when he always seemed so cheerful and eager to help. He had been so nice to the people on the ward, fixing Tony's music box, finding Gemma's wedding ring, and above all just listening to the people.

And then Sue died, and the Boy's cheerful spirit died with her. He hadn't left his room much after that, and the doctors had become worried again, gazing at bad test results and talking to his mother in hushed voices that Danielle couldn't help but overhear anyway.

She had made him a plushie too, a leeble Panky, but he had left it in the patient lounge just before…

It was sitting there now, on the table next to the snacks. Panky wasn't amused when he saw it, but he laughed when he saw the Cora doll on the table with crayons and paints.

"Fair enough," he said. "Just keep those cats away from it. They cause me enough trouble in the cafeteria, I don't want them literally tearing me apart!"

"Like you wouldn't fend them off with your big knives!" Winston called from the purple berry bean bag where he was sitting next to Gemma. His shirt and vest contrasted with the hospital gown she was wearing, but Danielle couldn't help but think they fitted together perfectly. At least they were having a happy ending, smiling as they watched a movie together on the leeble-shaped television.

Danielle wondered where Boy had gotten all the things for the patient lounge from. He had donated his entire allowance, and some money Danielle suspected came from lockers and drawers around the hospital, to Cora and the Towel Cape Heroes for them to buy things with.

But he had brought along other things as well. The bean bag Gemma and Winston were sitting on, the poster for a band she couldn't find anything about online, the portrait of an onion with a moustache and pipe. He hadn't made them himself, had he?

She supposed they had been donated by his mother, but she couldn't help but think there was more to it than they told her. They had contributed so much to the new patient lounge. It was even fuller than it had been before the disaster.

But as Danielle looked around at all the unfamiliar new faces, it still felt too empty. That's how it goes in a hospital, she should be used to it by now. Everyone left. Either they got better, or they didn't, but eventually their room would be cleaned out and filled by a new patient.

And sometimes all they left behind were marbles and toys. She considered telling the children about the one who had explored the marbles and uncovered their secrets. But where would she even start? Danielle didn't know much about Sue either. And even less about Boy.

The door opened, and Danielle looked up, expecting to see one of the nurses. But instead it was a familiar face, though one she hadn't seen in several months. She looked like she had aged 10 years.

"Hello, Danielle. Oh, hey Winston! I don't think me and Gemma met yet," Boy's mother said, moving the book she was holding to her left hand to shake Gemma's hand with her right. She talked briefly with the couple, before turning to the kids playing with the marbles.

"Hey little ones! I see you're exploring the tiny planets! But do you want to hear about a very special world, far away and yet close?" she said, opening the brown book to the first page. The children crowded around the woman, sensing that this stranger was safe, that she knew them somehow. Knew how they felt.

Danielle grabbed her knitting needles, starting on another plushie as the woman started talking.

"Once upon a time, there lived a boy in a faraway land called Morizora's Forest. And even though he was still quite young, the boy was considered a great warrior by his tribe…"

The mother talked for over an hour, telling them all about the brave boy who befriended the forest creatures and fought evil monsters. Danielle saw the fear leave the childrens's eyes, replaced by wonder and joy. And as she finished up the little plushie, she decided to make one for the mother as well. She had been through just as much as the residents of the hospital.


End file.
